Alector, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALEC) Short Interest Update

Alector, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALEC - Get Free Report) saw a large drop in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,170,000 shares, a drop of 8.5% from the December 15th total of 5,650,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,250,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.1 days. Currently, 6.8% of the company's stock are sold short.

Alector Price Performance

Alector stock traded up $0.03 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $1.71. The company's stock had a trading volume of 529,390 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,234,719. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $2.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $4.29. Alector has a 1-year low of $1.60 and a 1-year high of $7.58. The company has a market cap of $167.46 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.01 and a beta of 0.57.

Alector (NASDAQ:ALEC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.43) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.53) by $0.10. The company had revenue of $15.34 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.33 million. Alector had a negative net margin of 257.54% and a negative return on equity of 108.77%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alector will post -1.88 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on ALEC shares. Morgan Stanley cut Alector from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $10.00 to $3.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Alector from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $9.00 to $1.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Alector from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $4.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, December 16th. HC Wainwright decreased their price target on shares of Alector from $35.00 to $7.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Finally, Mizuho downgraded shares of Alector from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $9.00 to $2.50 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $3.75.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Arnon Rosenthal sold 52,172 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.52, for a total transaction of $131,473.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,507,074 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,317,826.48. The trade was a 2.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Marc Grasso sold 16,489 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.52, for a total transaction of $41,552.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 330,651 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $833,240.52. This represents a 4.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 95,161 shares of company stock worth $239,806 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 9.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Alector

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Alector by 64.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,728,823 shares of the company's stock worth $12,716,000 after acquiring an additional 1,072,298 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in Alector by 18.5% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,017,687 shares of the company's stock worth $4,742,000 after purchasing an additional 159,111 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alector by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,903,942 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,874,000 after purchasing an additional 148,357 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alector by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,595,014 shares of the company's stock valued at $68,013,000 after purchasing an additional 137,794 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in shares of Alector in the 3rd quarter valued at $639,000. 85.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Alector

Alector, Inc, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, develops therapies for the treatment of neurodegeneration diseases. Its products include AL001, an immune activity in the brain with genetic links to multiple neurodegenerative disorders, which is in Phase III clinical trial for the treatment of frontotemporal dementia, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis diseases; and AL101 that is in Phase I clinical trial for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.